Lee starts off saying, "in the spirit of the session, we thought we have some of the people in the audience to come up and give the presentation for us." I enjoyed that joke.

1) Users spend a lot of time in UGC (user generated content)
2) Consumers expect to be able to make their own content
3) Consumers trust user generated content
4) Product reviews increase sales
5) Increases conversions
6) It is a great way to generate SEO generated content

- Good For Business
-- Reviews educate customers
-- Fewer product returns
-- Reviews educate the retailers also
-- Reviews lead to more sales

Overcoming Fear of Users

- Fear of Negative Reviews
-- 85% of reviews are positive on Yelp
-- According to Bazaarvoice says 80% of all reviews are either four or five stars
-- Negative reviews can be helpful
-- Negative reviews create trust
-- Reality, no product/service is perfect for everyone

UGC Checklist
- Got search engine strategy
-- Is it risky (he says like Squidoo)
- Using Search Tactics
-- Architecture
-- On-page and off page
- Do you compete with Google (i.e. Mahalo)
- Do users have any incentive to contribute en masses
- Any major drawbacks that will sink you?
-- Legal
-- User interest is fleeting
-- Credibility and truthfulness
-- Space just too competitive
- Can you become a destination or platform, so 1,2,3 no longer matter

He said TripAdvisor had all of this in place, so they did well

PlentyOfFish.com is a great example, turned a dating site into an open network. It grew like wild fire.

Yelp had good search engine strategies, the incentives were offline promotions,

NowPublic.com doesnt have a search strategy

Squidoo's top 100 is pretty much all about handbags, seems like that screen shot was spammed.

Mahalo's problem is that they do have crowdsouricng but they compete with Google. They cant win unless they become a destination.

HomeStars "the zillow for after you own the home"
- Search strategy like Yelp
- Sheer user interest